
■tell. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

E^ij — 

ii^ dopiing]^ 1|0, 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



DEATH 


IN THE SIGHT 


OF 


ALL 


THE PEOPLE: 






A SERMON 






ON THE 




DEATH OF 


PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 1 




BY 






WM. M. TAYLOR, D.D. 





NEW YORK : 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

900 Broadway, Cor. 20th Street. 



DEATH IN THE SIGHT OF 
ALL THE PEOPLE: 



A SERMON 



ON THE 



D 



EATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD 



PREACHED IN 



BROADWAY TABERNACLE, 

NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 23, 1881, 



BY 

V' 
\VM. M. TAYLOR, D.D., Pastor. 



c'^'V 



NEW YORK : 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

900 Broadway, Cor. 20th Street. 



7z.f 



COPYRIGHT, l83l, BY 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY. 



Edwaid 0. Jenkins, Printer and Stereotyper, 
20 North William St., N. Y. 



New York, Scptcvibcr 26, 18S1. 
Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D. 

DEAR SIR: 

A sermon like that preached by you yesterday, upon 
the death of President Garfield, should have a wider and more 
abiding influence than if preserved only in the memory of those 
who heard it. Those who had that privilege desire the sermon 
in a permanent form, and many others would be glad to profit by 
your eloquent and instructive words in this time of sorrow. In 
asking for the publication of the sermon we are but uttering the 
unanimous wish of your Church and Congregation. 

We are, Dear Sir, 

Yours most truly, 

Hubbard Beebe, 
Caleb B. Knevals, 
Thomas W. Whittemore. 
La Fayette Ranney, 
John J. Sinclair, 
William D. Moore, 
John H. Washburn. 
,; -- ' A. H. Clapp. 



Rev. Hubbard Beebe, and others: 

dear brethren: "" 

The sermon to which you refer was written without 
any idea of its publication through the press, and was the simple 
outgush of my heart under the nation's sorrow. But since you 
consider it worthy of permanent preservation and general cir- 
culation, I very cheerfully place the manuscript at your disposal. 

I am. 

Your affectionate Pastor, 

Wm. M. Taylor. 

6 West 35th Street, 
New York, 2btli September, 1881. 



A SERMON 



DEATH OF PRESIDEiNT GARFIELD. 



They went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. And 
Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son ; 
and Aaron died there in the top of the Mount. — Numbers xx. 27, 2S. 

On the borders of Idumea, in the district of Ara- 
bia Petrsea, and about midway between the most 
northern point of the Red Sea and the most south- 
ern point of the Dead Sea, rises the remarkable 
mountain which now bears the name of Jebel Nebi 
Haroun, or the Mountain of Aaron. Its ascent is 
steep and toilsome, and its summit, which is about 
five thousand feet above the level of the Mediter- 
ranean, consists of two peaks which give it a castel- 
lated appearance. Standing on the loftier of these 
the spectator looks over the valley of the Arabah 
with its numerous water-courses to the white mount- 
ains of the wilderness, throuo-h which the children of 
Israel wandered for so many years, and beyond which 
are visible the heights through which they had vainly 
attempted to force their way into the promised land. 
Close around him, on the east, are the rugged mount- 
ains of Edom, and far along the horizon the white 



6 A Sermon on the 

downs of Mount Seir ; but over no part of the land- 
scape does his eye wander with more curiosity and 
dehght than the crags of Mount Hor itself, which 
stand up on every side in the most rugged and fan- 
tastic forms ; sometimes strangely piled one on the 
other, and sometimes as strangely yawning in clefts 
of frightful depth.'^' Such was the mountain, at the 
base and in full view of which the tribes were en- 
camped when the Lord spake unto Moses and 
Aaron, saying, " Aaron shall be gathered unto his 
people. Take Aaron and Elcazar his son and bring 
them up unto Mount Hor ; and strip Aaron of his 
garments and put them upon Eleazar his son ; 
and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people and 
shall die there." 

What feelings would be stirred in the hearts of the 
two brothers by these words ! The tender recollections 
of boyhood, when from time to time they met and 
amused themselves in the home of Amram ; the mem- 
ory of those thrills of patriotism which vibrated within 
them when, after long separation, they met to begin 
their struggle for the emancipation of their nation ; 
the remxcmbrance alike of their association in Egypt, 
when together they contended against the tyrannic 
Pharaoh, and of their long and loving cooperation in 
the leading of the people through the desert — all 
would crowd upon their minds, and thoughts too 



* See Stanley's " Sinai and Palestine," p. %"] ; and Alexander Kitto's 
Cyclopaedia, article, " Hor." 



Death of President Gai^field. 7 

deep for utterance would fill their souls. Nay more, 
the consciousness on the part of Moses that he was 
the main transgressor at the rock when the fiat was 
pronounced that doomed them to exclusion from the 
Canaan of their hope, would add poignancy to the 
grief he felt, and we may well believe that they 
sought relief each in the silent embrace of the other. 
But not long time could be given to such natural 
emotion, for the command of God must be obeyed. 
Accordingly, in the sight of all the people, Aaron, in 
full pontifical attire, as if he were going to officiate in 
the tabernacle on a high and sacred festival, steps 
forth, and with Moses on one side and his son Elea- 
zar on the other, he sets out for the summit of the 
mountain. As they move up its steep and rugged 
slopes, they are followed by the eager eyes of the 
people on whose behalf he had gone so often with 
the blood of atonement within the veil. What ear- 
nest converse has he now with Moses concerning the 
world beyond ? What faithful exhortations does he 
address to Eleazar as to his conduct in that office on 
which he is so soon to enter ? What deep conscious- 
ness of unworthiness and sin wouM burden his heart ? 
What calm trustfulness in the God of the mercy-seat 
would cheer, and sustain his spirit ? And now they 
have reached the summit, on which he pauses a mo- 
ment to take his last look of earth. There at his feet 
are the "goodly tents" of Israel, and over the tribes, 
mayhap, as he looks down, he pronounces again his 



8 A Scnnoii on the 

priestly benediction. There is the tabernacle in 
whose service he had found at once his labor and his 
joy ; yonder away before him is the wilderness, 
through which so long he had followed the mystic 
pillar of cloud and fire ; and far off to the right are 
the hills, beyond which Canaan lies — but that Ca- 
naan is not for him ! Yet, there is no murmur. 
Once again it may be written, "And Aaron held his 
peace." With tender hands his brother strips off his 
garments and puts them on Eleazar. Then bravely 
and quietly he lies down to die, and even as Moses 
and Eleazar look at him, his spirit leaves its house of 
clay, and he is on earth no more ! 

Thus sublimely died the brother and companion of 
Israel's leader. We forget his failings as we see him 
ascending so serenely the hill on which he is to be 
"gathered to his fathers." At intervals in the long 
day of his life his sun had been obscured by clouds 
that somewhat dimmed its radiance, but now all 
these have cleared away, and, as it set behind the cas- 
tellated crest of Mount Hor, it threw thereon a 
golden glory which lingers on it yet. Three went 
up, but only two came down — Moses, with a keener 
sense of loneliness than ever, and Eleazar lamenting 
his father's absence all the more because of the added 
responsibility of his new position. For thirty days 
the people halted in sorrow for their loss, and then 
the pillar rose from above the tabernacle and led 
them out and on toward the country of their hope. 



Death of President Gavjicld. 9 

Everything went on as it had done before, but Aaron 
was not there ! 

That is an old history ; but, in some of its main 
features, it has just been repeated in the experience of 
this nation ; and so I have turned to it to find comfort 
and instruction in our hour of sorrow. Of our beloved 
President, too, it may be truly said that he has ascended 
the hill in the sight of all the people. His life has 
been a constant climb. From the log-cabin in the 
forest he went " still upward," until he reached the 
highest office which can be attained among us ; and 
although, while he was patiently and heroically 
threading his way up the earliest slopes, he was un- 
seen by the multitudes, yet the microscopic inspec- 
tion of his antecedents at the time of his nomination 
to the Presidency has made even the youngest among 
us familiar with his career from his earliest boyhood 
until the night when, amid the tolling of bells and 
the tears of the nation, the sad words passed from 
mouth to mouth among us — "The President is 
dead ! " 

We have followed him from the cabin to the 
school-house ; from the school-house to the carpen- 
ter's shop ; from the carpenter's shop to the canal 
barge ; from the canal barge to the academy ; from 
the academy to the college — first as a student and 
afterward as a professor ; from the college to the bat- 
tle-field ; from the battle-field to the halls of legislat- 



lo A Sermioii on the 

ure ; from the halls of legislature to the White 
House ; and from the White House to that cottage by 
the sea, wherein the long alternation between relapse 
and recovery terminated in his dissolution. No He- 
brew in all the host that day when Aaron went up 
Mount Hor watched the progress of the ascending 
high-priest with more interest than that with which 
we have scanned the history of Mr. Garfield ; and we 
had all a glow of honest, thankful satisfaction when 
we saw in the Presidential chair a man who might be 
regarded as a typical representative of the best ele- 
ments of the American character. Ikit alas! like 
Aaron, he reached the summit only to die ; and his 
death also was in the sight of all the people. The 
nation — nay, the world was admitted to his sick- 
chamber. For all these weeks each hand among us 
was upon his pulse, and each ear among us was at his 
heart. It was as if each of us had a beloved patient 
in his home. The " fierce light " which usually " beats 
upon a throne " is nothing to the radiant publicity into 
which the affection of the citizens insisted upon put- 
ting the incidents of that chamber of suspense ; and 
in coming years there shall yet be made in song and 
story many a pathetic mention of his heroic sayings 
and his thoughtful solicitude for those who were 
most dear to him. 

Now, it is in the effects which this very publicity 
of his history and sufferings has produced, and is, I 



Death of Prcsidcjit Gai-ficld. i i 

believe, destined in still larger measure yet to produce 
among us, that I find some of the richest elements of 
consolation under our sore trial. For, in the first 
place, that publicity has elevated into the view of the 
community a character every way worthy to become 
an example and an inspiration to us all. And in 
speaking thus, I refer not so much to the persever- 
ance and indomitable pluck by which he was distin- 
guished, as to the moral and spiritual qualities which 
in him were so conspicuous. He was from the first 
characterized by conscience. From the day when on 
the canal barge he refused to take by stratagem or 
trick from another boat, the right of way to which it 
was fairly entitled, on to that of the Convention in 
which he stood unyieldingly up for a principle which 
he believed to be " everlastingly right," he was un- 
flinching in his adherence to that which in his view 
was just. 

And this conscience in him, I rejoice to add, was 
thoroughly Christianized. In his early youth he be- 
came, on deliberate conviction, a disciple of the Lord 
Jesus ; and in every sphere he filled, it might be said of 
him that he was " not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." 
There was, indeed, no ostentatious parade of his devo- 
tion. He said little because he acted so much. His 
piety w^as that of principle rather than emotion ; and it 
was too much occupied in conduct to have any energy 
to spare for display. He was more ambitious for ex- 
cellence than for position. The only place he ever 



12 A Sci'mon on the 

asked for he did not get, and every office which he 
filled was one to which he was called by others with- 
out any seeking of his own. He never had the 
" Presidential fever," but he had the conspicuous fit- 
ness for the office to such a degree, that his nomination 
was almost forced upon him by his fellows. So he 
stands forth before us all a striking instance of the 
truth of Solomon's words, though in perhaps a differ- 
ent sense from that in which the wise king used 
them, "A man's gift maketh room for him." Not 
what he could get for himself thereby moved him to 
strive for office ; but, contrariwise, he was called to 
office because men perceived how much of ability, 
disinterestedness, independence, and patriotism he 
could give to the people through the office. They 
sought him for what he was ; he did not seek it for 
what it was worth. And surelv I am not wrone in 
saying that in the elevation and glorification of such 
a character by such a death we have an element of 
comfort which is well-nigh incalculable. We can not 
mourn for him ; for, being such a man as he was, we 
know right well whither he has gone — and we may 
be thankful that such a career has been so promi- 
nently brought before the eyes of the rising genera- 
tion among us. 

Young men, let it fire you with the noblest of all 
ambitions. Seek rather to be than to get. Labor 
not for office, but for character ; and, to that end, cul- 
tivate through faith in Christ a conscience that shall 



Death of President Garfield. 13 

spurn from it every thought of wrong ; for in con- 
science is the main-spring of character, and as you 
act concerning it, you will become either a hero or a 
coward. 

But it is not only in its public aspects that the his- 
tory of our nation's second martyr is fraught with 
benefit. There was a domesticity about him which 
strikingly illustrated the fifth commandment ; and, in 
a day wdien some believe that our home-life in Amer- 
ica is deofeneratino-, I am thankful that he who has 
gone set such a noble example in this regard. What 
devotion he showed to his venerable mother ? Who 
can recall without emotion that scene with his fellow- 
students when, camping out with them, he took out 
his Bible and said : " Boys, I promised my mother to 
read a portion of the Scriptures every night, and I 
am going to read it now — shall I read it aloud ?" and 
then, with their concurrence, not only read a chapter, 
but led them in prayer to the throne of the heavenly 
grace ? Who can speak without pleasure of the kiss 
which he imprinted on his mother's lips immediately 
after he had taken the oath of office on his installation 
day ? And who can read without tears the letter — 
the only one he wrote during his weeks of languish- 
incr — to the venerable woman, that he might, with his 
own hand, give her as much hope of his recovery as 
possible ? Wliat an example for the sons and daugh- 
ters of the land ! Oh, ye poor, paltry puppets, who. 



14 A Sermon on the 

in the day of your prosperity, turn your backs upon 
your parents and think of them only as a burden and 
a dissrrace — look at these beautiful indications of his 
filial devotion and go hide your heads for shame ! 
That installation kiss ! let it stand out in our history 
forever as an enforcement of the holy law — " Honor 
thy father and thy mother" — and let it serve to lift 
up the family among us to its ancient elevation. 

But he was no less tender as a husband than he 
was faithful as a son. We got a glimpse of his con- 
jugal devotion during the serious illness of Mrs. Gar- 
field in the White House ; and the impression made 
then upon us was deepened by the telegram which 
he calmly dictated to her immediately after he was 
shot ; while, on the other hand, her noble calmness in 
that trying hour, coupled with her unslumbering 
watchfulness beside his bed, has given her a place in 
the nation's heart second onlv — if indeed it be second 
— to that in which it has enshrined him. Is it noth- 
ing, think you, that in these days of marriage for con- 
venience and of easy divorce and of too common lax- 
ity in this department of morals, God has, through 
that honored couple, so haloed and hallowed the con- 
jugal relationship before the world ? While, in the 
bearing of Mr. Garfield toward his boys and his ten- 
der solicitude for his daughter, I feel persuaded that 
every father among us has been stimulated and bene- 
fited. How many homes in the land, I wonder, 
could bear the revelation made by the turning of the 



Death of President Garfield. 1 5 

white electric light of pubHcity in upon them as the 
household of the President has done ? This terrible 
affliction has made it a spectacle to all. Let us be 
thankful that it is of such a character that it may be 
an example for all. 

But I find another element of consolation in the 
unification of the nation which has resulted from the 
publicity in which our President lived and died. 
When Aaron was ascending Mount Hor, no jealousy 
was permitted to alienate the tribes of Israel from 
each other. In sight of the venerable high-priest 
going up to meet his death, the envyings of Reuben 
and the rebellion of the sons of Korah were forgot- 
ten. Israel was once more a unit. One great grief 
swallowed up and into itself all minor things, even as 
the uprising tide overwhelms all the pools which the 
last ebb has left behind ; and, in the thirty days of 
mournino; which followed his dissolution, there was 
no exception to the universality of the grief ; for, as 
the historian tells us, "they mourned for Aaron, even 
^//the house of Israel." So it is now with us. For 
the first time in many, many years there is no section 
in our land to-day. North and South— their differ- 
ences for the time forgotten— are weeping in equal 
sorrow over Garfield's bier, and it looks as if the feuds 
of a quarter of a century were to be healed and the 
divisions cemented by his blood. No tributes to his 
memory are more sincere than those which have been 



1 6 A Sei'nion on the 

uttered by Southern statesmen, and no tokens of 
grief are deeper than those worn by our fellow-citi- 
zens with whom formerly we were at war. So, as 
sometimes offended brothers have been reconciled as 
they stood beside a father's open grave, the country 
has been reunited by the death of Garfield. When 
Lincoln died, the wound was too green to be healed 
even by his martyrdom ; but now, unless all present 
indications fail, we have come to the end of that ter- 
rible strife which began over slavery ; and there is, as 
I believe, before these United States an era of good 
feeling which shall give new emphasis to the first 
word in our national appellation. This does not 
make a whit less horrible the manner of Mr. Gar- 
field's "taking off," or lessen by one iota the guilt of 
the contemptible assassin, but it does tend to assuage 
our sorrow ; and, in the fact that North and South 
have looked into each other's hearts through the re- 
vealing lenses of their tears, and have seen that be- 
neath all surface differences there is yet, thank God, 
a common nationality, we have an omen for the fut- 
ure which is full of promise. Now that we have wept 
together, we shall begin to forget that we have fought. 

I think, too, that among the consolatory effects 
produced by this trial I see the beginning of a spirit 
of indignation which shall at length sweep away the 
abuses that have gathered round that system of 
making public offices the rewards of party service 



Death of President Garfield. ij 

which has become the shame of our American pol- 
itics. It may be said, indeed, that the misguided 
man who fired at the good President is mad, and that 
no argument may be drawn from any words of his. 
But, without presuming to settle whether he be in- 
sane or not, thus much we may say, that even if he 
be so, this whole system of office-seeking gave the' 
shape to his madness, and is directly accountable for 
the loss which we this day deplore. The life of the 
assassin, should he prove to be a responsible agent, 
will be forfeited to the law ; and it is to be hoped 
that in that case nothing will be allowed to prevent 
the infliction of the righteous penalty. But, unless 
I greatly mistake, there has been growing all through 
these sorrowful weeks a spirit of determination 
among the people to put to death the system out of 
w^hich this murder sprung, and woe to the public man 
who shall attempt to stay that execution! It may 
take a long time. The struggle may be severe, for 
self-interest is always difficult to dislodge ; but, de- 
pend upon it, its death-knell is rung, and the sover- 
eign people will see that their will is carried through, 
no matter what official heads may be lopped off in 
the process. Over the bier of Garfield they have 
pledged themselves that he shall not die in vain, and 
a covenant in such blood will never be forgotten. 
The evil now has only smitten the nation's head ; it 
has not yet corrupted the heart. The universal feel- 
ing of this hour is a proof that that is sound ; and. 



1 8 A Sermon on the 

when the people are in earnest, they can do anything. 
They are in earnest now. God grant that their ear- 
nestness may continue until they have secured that 
every department of our civil service shall be dealt 
with as thoroughly as the Postmaster-General is deal- 
ing now with the infamous star routes. It seems to 
be the law of God's providence that no great advance 
can be secured in anything without a victim, and the 
value of the victim in this case is so great — for he 
was the best the nation had — that we may anticipate 
that the advance will be decided. Here, too, the law 
comes in, and I am guilty of no irreverence in apply- 
ing it after this fashion : " Except a corn of wheat 
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone ; but if 
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." It has been a 
fearful sorrow. Let us see to it that it shall not be in 
vain ; and, to that end, let us pledge ourselves by the 
memory of him at whose bedside we have stood for so 
many weeks, that, God helping us, we shall slay the 
system out of which his assassination sprung. If we 
do not succeed in doing that, it may be the assassina- 
tion of the nation next. 

But the effects of the publicity given to our Presi- 
dent's character and death have not been confined to 
our own land. The nations have sat with us round 
his bed, and they are mourning with us now over his 
decease. Thus this calamity has brought the ends of 
the earth together, and knit the peoples in a brother- 



Death of President Garfield. 19 

hood of bereavement. From all quarters and from 
every land, messages of condolence have kept pourin^; 
in upon us. In Great Britain, as I can testify from 
observation during my recent visit to my father-land, 
the President and his patient, self-denying wife were 
daily through his illness a source of interest to all, 
from the palace to the cottage. Queen Victoria never 
wrote anything so queenly as that message which came 
quivering over the wires to the stricken mourner ; for 
it was the queenliness of the woman, rather than of 
the monarch — the sympathy of a widow, speaking 
from her own experience, with a widow just entering 
the valley of her loneliness — " May God comfort you 
as He alone can " ; and the memorial wreath which she 
caused to be laid upon his coffin will flourish as an 
"immortelle" in the memory of this people. Here, 
too, a sorrow has bridged over a separation, and 1776 
is justified by the friendship of 18S1. Nor have other 
sovereigns been behind, while statesmen and poets 
have vied with each other in the pathetic expression 
of their sorrow. In this death there has been thus 
that " touch of nature " which " makes the whole world 
kin " ; and to-morrow, when his remains shall be car- 
ried forth to their resting-place, the business of the 
nations will stand still to let the funeral procession 
pass ! Truly here is a new thing under the sun, and 
we may take it as a foreherald of the time of which 
the poet sings : 

" When the war drums throb no longer, and the battle flags are furl'd 
In the parliament of men, the federation of the world." 



20 A Sermon on the 

It is coming, and tliat Christianity which Garfield 
loved and manifested is to bring it on ! 



But as another element of consolation under our 
sorrow, suggested by this text, I name the continua- 
tion of the nation's organic life. Aaron gives his vest- 
ments to Eleazar before he dies, and so the priestly 
work is perpetuated, though he no longer performs it. 
The king dies ; but with the announcement of his de- 
mise, the herald proclaims his successor, and says, 
" Long live the king ! " Ministers and people die, 
but the Church abides, and carries forward its benefi- 
cent work. So in our nation, by the wise forethought 
of those who drew up its Constitution, provision was 
made for the death of its chief magistrate ; and as the 
President is removed, his mantle falls upon one al- 
ready fore-elected for the contingency. When Lin- 
coln was murdered it was the voice of Garfield which 
stilled the surging crowd in Wall Street with the 
words : " Fellow-citizens, clouds and darkness are 
round about him ; justice and judgment are the habi- 
tation of his throne God reiorns, and the irov- 

ernment at Washington still lives." This is our con- 
solation now ; and to-day, while we sympathize with 
the bereaved, and count ourselves among them, our 
prayers must also ascend for him who, in circum- 
stances so solemn, and amid grief so profound, has 
been called to the duties and responsibilities of the 
Presidential chair. For him, too, as for us, these weeks 



Death of President Garfield. 21 

of sadness have been a time of discipline ; and the nation 
is prepared, as I think it was not at their beginning, to 
sustain and support him in his new relation. He has 
before him, perhaps, the noblest opportunity of render- 
ing service to his country which was ever given to an 
American citizen. It is in his power, if he but rise, to 
the occasion, to make one of the grandest Presidential 
records in our history ; but if he should fail or falter in 
the " narrow place " to which God has led him, he will 
sink beneath the commonest mediocrity. He has 
made some mistakes in the past, but these may be to 
him now only beacons to keep him from making ship- 
wreck in the future. Let us frankly give him our 
confidence that he may prove himself worthy of that 
confidence. His bearing since that mournful morn- 
ing, when those two pistol shots sent a shudder through 
the world, has been in every respect worthy of the 
occasion ; and his first utterances on assuming office 
were calm, dignified, sympathetic, and full of promise ; 
so that if he should go on as he has begun, he may 
succeed, in a large degree, in realizing the ideal which 
the death of his predecessor has fixed and glorified 
before the nation's eyes. No man, I am persuaded, 
feels the solemnity of his position more thoroughly 
than he does himself. May God guide him and up- 
hold him ! and may he never give occasion to the peo- 
ple to withdraw from him the trust which they repose 
in him to-day ! 



2 2 A Sermon on the 

But to mention only one thought more, we have 
the larg^est consolation of all in the fact that God is 
among the people. Aaron did not take with him the 
pillar of cloud and fire. The shechinah still hovered 
above the mercy-seat, and after the days of mourning 
for. the high-priest were ended, Jehovah was as much 
the leader of Israel as He had been before. No indi- 
vidual is indispensable. It is as easy for God to carry 
on His work without us as with us, if only He be rec- 
ognized and honored by those who remain behind. 
All individuals are but His instruments ; and all instru- 
ments may be made alike mighty in His hands. Let 
us be only sure that God is with us and all will be 
well. And He will be with us if wc will be with Him. 
As Lincoln said, when one spoke to him of the impor- 
tance of having God on our side — " The great thing 
for us is to make sure that we are on God's side"; 
and there are many indications now among us that 
the people are anxiously desirous that this shall be the 
case. What spiritual aspirations have been awakened 
in us all by the sorrows of these weeks, culminating 
in the sad climax of this day ! It is almost like a re- 
vival of religion over the land. Were ever prayers 
so numerous or so earnest offered as those which have 
been and are now being presented throughout the 
country ? When was God so widely recognized among 
us as He has been in these recent days ? Are not all 
these tokens that He is still in the midst of us ? And 
when the editor of a secular newspaper — and he is 



Death of President Garfield. 23 

not alone among the journalists of the land — can write 
such words as these, " He is dead ; and the prayer of 
his fellow-citizens, although not answered to their 
hope, has yet been answered with a benediction," we 
may surely take it as an omen of reviving spirituality 
among the people." Let but that disposition continue 
in the midst of us, and higher prosperity than we have 
yet dreamed of shall be attained ; for still as of old 
the law holds good, " Them that honor me I will honor, 
but those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." 
No one can read the history of this nation without 
marking how clearly at the critical turning-points of 
her career the hand of God has been revealed in her 
deliverance, and He will not forsake her now. So let 



* On the morning after this discourse was dehvered, the following sen- 
tences appeared in an editorial in the New York Tunes. We give them 
here as another corroboration of the statement made above : 

"Not the least impressive nor the least salutary of the various phases 
of this experience is that which touches the religious nature of the people. 
Notwithstanding all that has been said and assumed of a drifting away 
from faith in the supernatural and the divine, we doubt if there was ever 
a time in the history of any nation when the thoughts and feelings of the 
people have turned so much tov/ard a higher power on which they felt 
themselves to be dependent as during these weeks of anxiety. Prayers 
have gone up continually, not only from temples of worship and from 
family altars, but in silence from hearts unused to demonstrations of de- 
voutness. The sense of dependence on an overruling Providence has 
been deepened and intensified, and, though hopes have been disap- 
pointed and prayers have proved unavailing, the people will gather to- 
day with their faith unshaken and their disposition to acknowledge their 
need of divine favor and guidance greatly strengthened." 

The prayers were not unavailing — no true prayer ever is. But God 
did not give that which we asked, because He had something better to 
bestow, which could come only through the denial of our request. But 
the crowds which thronged our churches on the funeral day proved that 
the writer was correct in his forecast. 



24 Sermo?i on the Death of Presidejit Ga^'field. 

us take heart again and sing, " God is in the midst of 
her, she shall not be moved ; God shall help us, and 
that right early." As good John Wesley said with his 
dying breath, "The best of all is, God is with us " ; or 
as the pious Scotch woman put it in her own vernac- 
ular, "The Lord's aye to the fore!" "God lives; 
blessed be our rock, and let the God of our salvation 
be exalted." 

For the rest our loved one sleeps in Jesus. We 
have no doubts or misgivings about him. Already 
he has entered into the joy of his Lord ; and great is 
the contrast between the gloom of our mourning and 
the gladness of his glory. 

A voice is heard on earth of kinsfollc weeping 

The loss of one they love ; 
But he has gone where the redeemed are keeping 

A festival above. 

The mourners throng the ways, and from the steeple 

The funeral bells toll slow ; 
But on the golden streets the holy people 

Are passing to and fro : 

And saying, as they meet, " Rejoice, another, 

Long waited for, is come. 
The Saviour's heart is glad, a younger brother 

Hath reached the Father's home." 

To that home may we also be admitted, in God's 
good time and way, through the merits and mediation 
of our great High-Priest. Amen. 



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